Day 17 - August 22 - The Big Apple

As mentioned earlier, it started raining just as the group was pulling in last night.  By the time we walked to and from dinner it was steadily coming down.  At 9pm when I went to trek over to the Cowden's room (in a different building than ours) with my laptop to download more pictures, I was stopped at the door.  It was pouring rain!  It was coming down hard enough that not only would I have gotten drenched, it was likely to drown the laptop.  I'm not sure how late into the night it rained, but by morning it had stopped.  The bikes got wiped down and we loaded up and headed out on US 7 south.  We had decided to go through western Massachusetts and western Connecticut as we had done quite a bit of riding in New York in the days prior.  We were in Massachusetts in a matter of minutes after leaving at 8am. 

 Prior to the Massachusetts line, this road had signs associating it with the Mohawk Trail as well as referring to it as the Ethan Allen Highway. Initial riding through Massachusetts revealed that we were riding just west of Mount Greylock, the highest point in elevation in the state (3491ft). We passed a ski hill just prior to riding into Pittsfield.  It didn't look like any ski hill I'd seen before.  It was more like a foothill - granted there wasn't any snow either. We took a break by visiting Ronnie's HD in Pittsfield.

We continued south on 7, which is also known in this region as the Berkshires, through the towns of Sheffield, Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and Lenox. All of these towns were established between 1733-1771. It wasn't much of a leap for me to see my steel horse as a real horse and that I would be riding through here with the likes of George Washington.  A number of the houses in this area look to be restored to their original glory more than 250 years ago.  The small cemeteries that were scattered through this region had very old headstones in them.  They were much thinner than current headstones and the engraving in many cases had been eroded by the years of weather.  As I scanned the wooded areas for deer that might jump out, it was almost as if I was watching for the red coats of the British as well.  A short time later we crossed into Connecticut. 

We continued on scenic US 7 south through western Connecticut.  The road winds through several state parks with are fairly wooded areas.  It was easy to see how this ride will need to be re-visited someday when the fall colors are in their glory. 

 



We hit the HD store in Danbury, CT since it was on the way and took the recommendation of the gals there to try Widow Brown's for lunch.  We were not disappointed.  It was a cool place with good food.  Over lunch we discussed the strategy for getting into New Rochelle, NY in tact despite the ever increasing traffic. 

As we crossed the state line on I-84 which quickly became I-684, I was reminded of some of the unique features of the NY roadways that we saw today and earlier while riding in NY.  I'll start with text stops.  Every so often we would pass a road sign that said, "It Can Wait - Text Stop 5 miles".  I had not seen this before, but it's essentially a pull out on the highway with no facilities where one can safely stop to read or send a text.  Another notable one read,  "State Law - 3 text violations - Lose license".   And lastly,"State Law - License suspension after 2 work zone speeding tickets".  This reminded me of a sign we passed several times in Michigan that said, "Injure/Kill a worker, $7500 + 15 years".  I'm not sure if their statistics are any better than the other states, but the signs sure cause one to think.

Alan and his trusty GPS took us right to the hotel without much interference from traffic.  For that,  we were grateful.  We were pleased to find our rooms were ready and we were able to drop our luggage and get the bikes over to Empire HD in New Rochelle.  Months ago in the planning of this ride, with the help of Will and Sandi Long's recommendation, we had determined that this would be the place where we would get the bikes serviced and re-checked for road worthiness as it's near the estimated half way point of the total mileage we expect to ride on this trip.  Sam and the crew at Empire did an awesome job of getting our bikes checked-in and ready for service tomorrow morning.  Of course, we did a little bit of shopping before hailing a cab back to the hotel. Tim noted that even Alan had a shopping bag. More on that later.

  
Upon return to the hotel, we started some loads of laundry and decided, as it was still relatively early, to try to knock out Alan's and Shannon's special request for the trip.  As you may recall from a previous entry to this blog, we each picked one thing we wanted to do/see on this trip.  Tim's was the first one accomplished when we rode across the Golden Gate Bridge, and we are half-way through Torrey's "Four Corners" stops.  Shannon's request was to see the Statue of Liberty, and Alan's was to see the 9/11 Memorial, previously known as Ground Zero.  If we could get both of these in tonight, then we really would have a whole day off tomorrow to relax.

To accomplish these, we headed for the train station that was just a few blocks away from the hotel. When we got to the cross walk at the end of the block, we looked up at the building in front of us and it was Trump Plaza.  At the train station we purchased tickets to ride to Grand Central Station, an approximately 35-40 minute ride.  Tim, in particular, seemed to have an eye-opening experience as to how the masses get from point A to point B on the east coast.  It didn't help that as we were headed into the City, it was about 5:30pm and the workday commuters were all heading home for the evening.  With a little help from the information desk attendant, we made our way from the train to the correct subway that would take us to Fulton Street.  As we rode, we pondered aloud the commute by subway/train versus trying to drive in traffic and pay for parking.  We all came to the conclusion that city life might not be for us.  It is fun to visit though.

    
As we arose from the subway station, we made our way to the 9/11 Memorial first.  Of course, it is a very solemn place to visit.  We first visited the South Tower Pool. Seeing the reflecting pools really makes an impression on you. Besides the names of all those lost in the towers, there are also listings for those lost in the planes as well as all the first responders.  Like the Field of Heroes at home, seeing this in person really drives home the tremendous nature of the loss our country suffered that day. We talked a bit about what it must have been like that day almost 15 years ago.  To be in such a crowded area with so many people and all the confusion and chaos -   Unimaginable really.  We made our way over to the Survivor Tree and then to the North Tower Pool.  We milled about the space looking at the new towers that have been built as well as the architecture of the museum and the park as a whole. There wasn't enough time to partake of the museum on this visit. 

We decided to walk to Battery Park to view the Statue of Liberty.  It was too late in the day to catch a ferry over to Ellis Island.  It felt good to get some steps in and be active for a bit.  We were able to view Lady Liberty and get some pics.  We decided to get a bite to eat at Pier A Harbor House. We chose outdoor seating which allowed us to capture some sunset shots too. The bridge pictured below is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.  It connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. 

I was concerned that we really didn't have enough time to spend at either of our destinations to really take it all in, but Alan and Shannon both said they felt good about the visit we did have.  So that's two more special requests checked off and now we have a whole day off tomorrow to relax.  Tim says it's looking like a Jammies and Jameson day tomorrow. 

Total miles today: 182.5;
Time to travel that distance: 6.5 hours
Cumulative miles: 6532.5
Tomorrow: R&R